2007 Toyota Camry Transmission Questions

Comments

The mileage is odd and it's interesting that you too note a difference between name brand, quality fuels and fuels containing more alcohols. Just made a fast middle of the night trip back from Youngstown at 70-72 mph with AC on and showed 32.5 in a larger leSabre. Shell gasoline was used.

djm2--- Would like to know if your camry was assembled in Japan (VIN starts with J). When encountering a hill with cruise control engaged, does your car shift down while instantly increasing rpm of engine? Mine does it many times depending on the length of the hill. Toyota says this is designed to do this on ALL Camrys. Very interested in your answer.

Well I just got back from having the latest TSB (EG036-07) applied to my LE-I4, and that is one smooth running vehicle now. As mentioned before, the original TSB (from a year ago) had fixed my cruise control and hesitation issues, but I asked them to do this new update since I was there getting an oil change. I figured since the TSB was available, I'd do it. I drove all the way home @65 on cruise, and it didn't downshift even once. That same stretch would downshift 20-30 times, pre-original TSB mode. City driving shifting and power is flawless.

I know you guys are still having problems with cruise, and I can only speculate that for some reason the dealers didn't get your software TSB loaded correctly. Have either of you been successful in getting the dealer (or a different dealer) to 'reload' the TSB?

kiawah---- I think your speculation must be correct. I have only had the latest TSB installed because my camry was assembled on 12/06 and supposedly the other TSB's had already been implemented as part of the mfg process of my car. I have only been to one dealer. My car has the cruise control downshift problem as you described in your pre-original TSB mode. Sounds like you have a much better local Toyota dealer than either of mine here in Charleston, SC. Is your dealer very far from me?

My car does not display the "downshift/upshift" while driving. My VIn starts with a J, so it was assembled in Japan. I drive a 2007 LE I4 AT.

A Toyota reps goal is to "minimize" any problem or issue, or try to explain that it is "normal" or non-existent. Basically, if you have a problem it is their job to BS you and tell you there isn't a problem.....not great customer service if you ask me. If you have a problem, then obviously there is a problem. It is a shame and disheartening that they will not try to help you, even if they deny there are any problems.

Hey Kiawah....glad to hear your car is running well!! I have an appointment this week (if work doesn't get in the way) to talk to the service manager about the cruise problem. Based on what you've said, you had the original TSB which fixed the cruise and hesitation problem, and then this newest TSB which made the car run even better (let me know if I am wrong here). I had the latest TSB installed which dramatically changed the way the car runs, drives, shifts. As I've said before, it is surprising sometimes how much power this 4 cyl has and how drivable it is. However, I get the cruise problem. I suspect the fix for the cruise software was not included in this latest TSB probably because it should have been installed at build (1Q2007). Also, it may be the speeds I set the cruise at. The problem seems to be worse when I set the cruise between 70-75 versus a lower speed. The combination of road grade and (lack of) engine HP may just be a little too much. I haven't had a chance yet to check the cruise at speeds set at say 75-80, or 60-70. I will in the next two weeks. Again, that is quite a change that last TSB made!! I spoke to someone Sunday when I filled up (gas) who has a 2008 4 cyl Camry LE, and she said she read about the hesitation and cruise problems, but hasn't detected either.

Hi All: I will try to answer all the questions in one posting! ---- My Camry was assembled in Japan. (Maybe that has something to do with the way it operates?) I have a unique way of driving this vehicle, so as such, I might be masking the "flare" issue. When I start the engine in the morning, (in warm weather), I let it run for about five minutes before I drive off. I place the trasmission selector in manual 4, and the transmission shift from one to four. (I am riding in city streets where the speed limit is 25 to 30 mph!) When I get the the highway, I place the selector into drive position. When the cold weather arrives, I allow the engine to reach normal operating temperature before I drive off. (I know that this is not suppose to be good for the engine, but I have doing this all my life, and my vehicles never use any oil between oil and filter changes, and the engine and transmission seem to operate better once the engine has warmed up!) I never use cruise control! The traffic in my area is not conducive to the use of this feature! I just hold a steady speed with the accelerator. In terms of the "off brand gas" I have been using EnRite 87 and getting about 28mpg. When I switched to Getty, I went up to 30+mpg on the same trip! I think the additive package is different, in addition to the alcohol content! One thing that I have noticed about my vehicle is that when I want to pass another vehicle on the highway, I get better performance if I press the accelerator slowly, rather than "punching it down". The transmission downshifts, and the vehicle takes off like a "bat out of hell!" I can go from 55 to 70 in seconds. If I "back off slightly on the accelerator," the transmission then upshifts! I hope that I have answered all of your questions. Best regards! ---------- Dwayne :shades: :confuse: P.S. I would love to take this vehicle on the open road to see what it could really do in terms of "top speed"! I believe that this vehicle is very capable of cruising at 100mph without any effort! At 70mph it is like a diesel locomotive on a set of rails! It handles very well at high speed!

I picked up my Camry today after the 2nd transmission replacement. As I suspected, the part number is the same as the time I had it replaced in April (30510-33530).

Driving out of the service department's parking lot, I heard a grinding or rattling sound coming from the steering column area or floor board (sounded like static on a radio). It was pretty loud and my wife and I were worried that the tranny was going to lock up. I had remembered a TSB where there can be excessive engine noise after a tranny replacement due to a dislodged steering column hold shield at the base of the steering column (EG039-06). So, I will need to bring it back to get that dealt with. Can you believe it? I am sure glad I hadn't paid for this tranny work! Also, I noticed a few small shift flares as my wife and I were trying to figure out what the noise was (but I was sort of distracted so I will need to investigate that further). I am sort of glad that I need to bring it back for the noise because I am hoping that will count as attempt #4...not sure. Lemon Law here we come...Lord willing.

That is a great question - and no, it is definitely not going to be a Camry. My wife has always loved the Lexus RX350 (mostly because of the look and she would like some more room in the back). I hate to support Toyota again after all of this heart ache but there are no other cars that she really likes. I am keeping my eyes on the RX350 forums to see what types of issues they have - no flares but some people are complaining about hesitation issues. ;-( I have a 2007 Toyota Tacoma and don't have any real issues with it.

Anyone know what kind of a tranny the Lexus RX350 has? If it were the same as my Tacoma, I would not hesitate to buy it.

I wonder how much pre-market testing was done on the very annoying 5spd transmission that was put in the 07 Camry.

Plenty. I just drove an 07 Camry over 600 miles and did not experience any "hesitation" or annoying downshift or upshift with the cruise control on. It works just like my other Camry, the 93, the 97, and so on. I believe you may have never noticed this on the other Camrys you own and just became "aware" of the upshift and downshift with the cruise control after reading these forums. :blush: As a matter of fact, this is the best Camry ever made. The ride was smooth and quiet, a/c worked like a charm. It had bluetooth so I paired my phone to it and talked my head off. Next time I'm renting an XLE V6 and try to see this so called "flare up". Mackabee

No, he DOES sell Toyotas. Look over in the "Stories From the Sales Frontlines" and you will see many posts from him about selling Toyotas. Makes you take his comments about car makers with a cubic yard of salt.

If you guys had followed mackabee's postings as long as I have - and that would be for about 8 years now - you would have seen that he is a straight shooter from the start, good or bad.

You may have different opinions and different experiences than he has, that certainly makes sense and isn't a problem. But simply dismissing his comments because he is a sales person and therefore implicitly not to be trusted deprives you of some very valuable input.

I agree with you re: mackabee. If he has been selling Toyotas for awhile, it absolutely makes sense that he is proud of the car line. At my dealership, there are some people who are new, or come and go, but many have been there for more than 10 years in both sales and service. I think they are sincere when they say they are proud of the brand, and stand by the company. On the whole, although not always exciting, Toyotas are reliable transportation at a reasonable price. There are some disappointments from the company in the past years, like not fessing up to the oil sludge problem quickly. However, I have friends who literally NEVER change their oil or filters, just keep topping it off, never rotate their tires or service their cars at specified intervals...and, even though I refuse to ride in them, I know of more than one that has more than 100K miles on it. How the heck they pass inspection is another subject. I know it's frustrating for those of us who are honest, but some of the pain we're experiencing is due to the unscrupulous people who will lie, cheat and steal without shame. This is why we get scanned every time we walk in and out of most stores. Keep your opinions coming mackabee!!

It was never my intent to besmirch or sully the reputation of Mackabee. I just wanted to point out that he DOES have a vested interest in having Toyotas seen in a favorable light. I'm sure it would cause people to view my posts differently if they found out I worked for a Saturn dealership. (I don't work for, with or in association with any car dealer or car related entity)

It just looks differently when somebody is having all sorts of problems with a new Camry and he posts all sorts of flowery praise about it. It's the best Camry ever... I've never heard of any problems like this... Then you find out it is from a Toyota salesman... Sorry, it just looks odd. It looks, well, odd... It may be the gospel truth, but looks odd.

Another way to look at this would be that because he is a salesman he is in contact with a lot of owners and they very well may represent a broader cross-section than a message board would since people who are unhappy are way more likely to seek out a place to seek solutions and commiserate with others.

In any case, this is not a discussion about one of our members. Let's get back to the topic here.

Well my feedback is after 22K-ish miles and a year and a half....the 4 cylinder is a great car. I would recommend it, and I would buy another. (I'm not related in any way, to any car business).

I did have the cruise control downshifting issue big time, as well as hesitation. The first TSB a year ago fixed both to my satisfaction, and the car is running fabulous.

I do recognize that there are still a couple of folks who are still having a cruise control problem, and to those my heart goes out to them because I know how frustrating having one of these problems can be.

I cannot offer first hand feedback on the V6 flare issue. When cars are being bought back via lemon law, and others are toughing it out with transmission replacement after replacement with no resolution to the problem......that leads me to believe that Toyota STILL doesn't have this fixed yet. We can debate 16 ways till Sunday as to how widespread the problem is, but I don't think anyone but Toyota would really know that number, and no way they would share that.

So it doesn't surprise me that Mack had a great ride last week, I suspect the odds were in his favor.

Hi guys,I bought my 2007 Toyota Camry SE 2.4/5sp.-auto in July 2007. It was built in July 2007. Looks like I don't have the hesitation problem and I can't tell about cruise control, because I am not using it. The car seems to be operating good, except the gas mileage. In the city I have 18.5 MPG. So far I have 1700 miles on it and did first oil change with Pennzoil 5w20 full synthetic. I heard few guys on this board, their gas mileage and performance was improved after TSB was installed. Do you guys think I have to do it, since I have no other problems except the gas mileage ? Thanks.

I've been in quite a few dealerships and the salemen always say they have not heard about this trans problem. I have also been told by a Toyota Rep while in arbritration that they have meaning Toyota corp been training the dealerships how to speak to the Camry owners with the trans problem. Trust me. The Trans problem is real and if you have worked for Toyota for more thatn 3 years you know about this problem. Who are we fooling?

If it was built in July 07, then most likely it already has the TSB done on it prior to it being shipped to the dealer.As far as the gas mileage goes, remember it is still a relatively new car with only 1700 miles on it. Give it another 3 to 4k miles, and you should see your MPG improve.

The date of the TSB is Aug 2007, so you may or may not (I'd guess probably not) have the TSB on your vehicle. Take your car to the dealership (or call), and they'll put your VIN number in the system and tell you whether you are eligible.

Mackabee----I wish that you were correct, but YOU ARE WRONG!!!! I also own other Camrys (1992,2000,2003). I came to this forum to see if other people were experiencing the problems that I was having with my 07 Camry LE 4cy/5spd automatic. Since Toyota has issued several TSB's to address "HESITATION,AND SHIFTING PROBLEMS WITH THE 2007 CAMRY", Toyota was, and is, aware of these problems. I do not think that they would take the time and effort to issue TSB's if a problem did not exist. By the way, driving a car for only 600 miles does not make you any kind of an expert on that model of car. Do you have any other credentials to present that would help us to seriously consider your posted opinions?

Actually I've been selling Toyota Camry sedans since model year 1997. And I've been driving Toyota products since 1981. First was an 81 Celica, then came an 85 Toyota VAN LE, then the first Camry; a 1992, then a pre-owned 93 which I drive daily. Then a 1997 which my wife drives daily since the 92 was totaled and she walked away with airbag burns to her face and a very sore shoulder from the cinch of the belt. I also owned a 1988 MR2, my youngest son is going on his second Corolla (first saved his life), my oldest drives a Scion tC (Toyota Product) his wife drives a 2003 Corolla S 5spd, and the odd one of the family my middle one drives a Honda Prelude, and two Acura Integras before that. I believe I explained in one of my earlier posts how cruise control works on Camry so I won't go through it again here. Another poster with more mechanical saavy than me agreed with my assessment. Now if the up shifting and down shifting of the transmission to maintain a pre-set speed is annoying to some then that's another issue and not a defect of the vehicle which is doing what it was told to do. When I go on test drives with customers we are looking for power, smoothness, quietness, how does the car ride, does it meet the customers needs, etc,. I'm not a mechanic and it's not my job to go look for "problems" on new cars. If these problems arise there is a factory warranty that will get them fixed. Group hug!

See the above message. If that doesn't convince you then I will tell you that I was an electro-mechanical technician in the USN for 20 years so I know my share of electronics and mechanics, servo motors, transmissions, etc, I also taught several courses on several guided missile weapon systems that utilize these elctro-mechanical devices, motors, servos, circuit cards, and micro-chips. lots of 1's and 0's So I know how things work. But to scream at me that I am wrong is wrong. I posted my experience with this particular vehicle this past weekend. I have driven others since I have access to any car on the lot and at times will drive to Richmond VA, or Baltimore Md, or Atlantic city, for Toyota functions so I take a company car and I have not encoountered these problems. Now if you still don't care to believe me so be it. But I will give you one more chance to take those word back. Starting tomorrow, I will park my little butt at the service lane and every customer that comes in for service on a Toyota Camry 2007 will be canvassed by me to see what problems they are experiencing with hesitation and flare up. Then I will go to the Master mechanics which we have a couple and ask them how many of these problems they have encountered. I can guarantee you they will be minimal. Have a good evening.

Great! It will be good to know from the "inside" how many Camrys actually have problems. I agree with you Mack, they probably will be minimal. If they do have problems, several people have said the new TSB has corrected the hesitation issue, and the TSB only takes an hour.

mackabee--- I said you were WRONG when you stated that I only had the cruise control downshifting problems after reading about them in this forum. If you review your previous post you will see what I mean. I came here looking for help with what I consider a very annoying problem, and one which Toyota has issued several TSBs to correct. Unfortunately for me, the Aug 2, 2007 TSB(EG036-07) did not fix the problem on my car. As I understand from posts, herein, this TSB did fix some of the O7 Camrys. By the way, I also am a 20 year Navy Electronics Technican who knows a little about servo motors, electronics, mechanics, etc.. So if you really want to help, my VIN: 4T1BE46K07U102536. According to some posts in this forum, TSB TC010-06(Aug06) which involved replacing a solenoid fixes the downshifting problem. But since my car was assembled in 12/06, my car supposedly had this solenoid already replaced when it was assembled. The latest TSB EG036-07(ECM calibration) recalibrates ECM(PCM) engine and transmission, and fixed the hesitation problem, but not the cruise control downshifting problem. Could you check with your Master Mechanics to see if replacing the solenoid per TSB TC010-06 could be implemented on my car? I would appreciate any and all help you might render. My local dealer has not been much help.